‘Impossible to rely on’: East Anglia’s trains have just posted their worst ever performance

Special Report PUBLISHED: 08:52 08 December 2018 | UPDATED: 08:52 08 December 2018 Jamie Burles, MD of Abellio Greater Anglia said the company is investing huge sums in improving performance. Picture: ANTONY KELLY Archant Norfolk 2015 More trains than ever are being delayed or cancelled on East Anglia’s rail network as repeated pledges to improve services fall flat. Latest figures from regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), show punctuality and reliability on the region’s biggest operator, Greater Anglia, sunk to its lowest levels for July to September since records began in 2004. Great Northern, which runs the King’s Lynn to London line, also posted its worst ever figures. Almost one in ten of its trains were cancelled or more than 30 minutes late. East Midlands Trains, which operates the Norwich to Liverpool service, scored better than Greater Anglia and Great Northern for punctuality and reliability, but its performance also deteriorated over the summer. Just over 86pc of Greater Anglia trains arrived within five minutes of their scheduled time and annual reliability figures have not improved since the operator took over the network in 2012. On the mainlines from Norwich to London and Norwich to Cambridge, the news was even worse. Only 75pc of trains between the city and Cambridge ran on time in the last 12 months. The percentage of Greater Anglia trains cancelled or significantly late has also gone up every year since 2012 and now stands at 3.8pc. But the train operator said it was only… [Read full story]